Bride Excludes Autistic Cousin From Child-Free Wedding, But Now She’s Facing Family Backlash Over Her Decision
by Heather Hall
Planning a wedding comes with tough decisions, but one of the most challenging is setting boundaries for your big day.
What would you do if someone close to you didn’t quite fit the expectations of your celebration, and inviting them felt like it might jeopardize the atmosphere?
Would you stand firm on your boundaries?
Or would you risk compromising your vision to avoid hurt feelings?
In the following story, one bride wrestles with this very decision and wonders if she’s wrong for feeling the way she does.
Here’s what’s happening.
AITA for not wanting my autistic cousin at my child-free wedding?
Next spring, I am getting married to the love of my life.
We have decided that we don’t want children at our wedding.
Not many of our friends and family have young children, and the ones that do are fine with getting a sitter for the weekend since we gave them a lot of notice.
The only ones to put up a fight are my aunt and uncle, who have a daughter with autism.
She is 20 but will be 21 by the time my wedding day comes around.
She is what they call “high-functioning,” which means she can talk and wash/dress herself, and she has some friends.
She graduated from high school a couple of years ago and is currently living with her parents (my aunt and uncle) while working at a grocery store.
She simply doesn’t see her as an adult.
Despite her being technically an adult, I just don’t see her as such.
Whenever I talk to her at a family gathering, it’s like talking to a child.
She is obsessed with toy ponies and Barbie dolls and brings them up at every opportunity.
She draws in her notebook constantly and never makes eye contact when talking to me.
She does not have loud meltdowns like other special needs kids I’ve met before, but I really don’t want to risk her ruining my special day.
I told my aunt and uncle that I didn’t want her there, and they became very upset.
They said she already saw the invite and knew it was child-free, but because she is an “adult,” she thought she was still included.
My aunt tried to guilt me by saying she’d already picked out a dress and a gift, but I didn’t want to hear it.
My fiancé says I’m being an AH, and we should let her attend because she has attended other weddings before with no issue.
Everyone is making me feel horrible for not treating her like an adult when she doesn’t act like one.
AITA?
This doesn’t make the bride sound very nice.
Let’s see what advice the folks over at Reddit have to offer.
This comment brings up some excellent points.
Exactly, and there is a difference.
According to this person, she is embarrassed for other people to see her cousin.
As this comment points out, the bride’s behavior is actually pretty childish.
She needs to get over herself.
Her cousin knows how to act like an adult and has already seen the invitation, so there’s no reason she shouldn’t attend the wedding.
If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.
Categories: STORIES
Tags: · aita, autistic, bridezilla, child-free wedding, no kids, picture, reddit, top, wedding day

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